Hearts In Atlantis
by Padfoot-001
Summary: Its been seven years since everyone left Atlantis, now the team have their own families, but when something happens with the Sheppards little boy they're forced to go back to the place they once called home. Shweir, DexTeyla, SamJack, McKayOther.
1. Chapter 1: The Extended Family

**Note:** Yes, another story. I had to write this one, I wanted to see what everyones' kids would be like. So far they've preety much written themselves, they already have a personality of their own, LOL! This something new for me, so please let me know what you think. Sorry if anyone disagrees or dislikes anything in the story, but its merely fan fiction and this is mine. Note too, that Carson is dead in this story ... sad, I know, but I had to in order to name Teylas' little boy.

**Pairings:** Sam/Jack, Rodney/OC, Teyla/Ronan, Sheppard/Weir. Yayness!!!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own StarGate Atlantis or its character, nor do I own StarGate Sg-1 and it's characters. This is merely fan fiction, written for my own amusement.

**Hearts in Atlantis.**

**Chapter One: The extended family.**

Never in his whole life did John Sheppard think that he would ever be able to settle down. Since the day he left high school, he had left his miserable home life and run away to join the air force. For years he lived on base, taking small breaks in between to flat with mates, never staying for long. Then, just when he thought that he might like to actually settle down in his own place off base for a while, he was taken to an important job in Antartica where he was living for several months. After that, his whole life was turned around as he was sent to work in the ancient city of Atlantis, in an entire new galaxy.

It had blown him away, it was huge. He had never had a job so important and it scared him, he wanted to do well, but he never had high hopes for himself, he always seemed to make mistakes. But he thought he owed it to Dr. Elizabeth Weir, the women who wanted him to join the expedition so badly, he didn't want to let her down. No sooner had he got there, the main military leader died and he was suddenly head of security, next in line. It was so much, so fast, for someone who had never had anything and had never believed he would make anything of himself, it was a lot to take in.

But he had loved every minute of it. The adventure, the risk, the challenges and the fact that he finally had a home. They fought long and hard to keep it and after many years of fighting and struggling, it was still theres. As time went on though, John had to admit that he thought Atlantis was it. He had too much of an unhappy family life when he was a child to ever really be able to settle down and have a family of his own. He had seen his parents' failed relationship, seen all the lies and manipulations that they used on each other, could he ever really be with anyone for the rest of his life? Could he ever really trust anyone?

Well, it wasn't long before he realised he could trust someone and perhaps he could be with someone for the rest of his life. Before he knew it, years had pased, he got married, he had a son and he moved on from Atlantis. Living at the SGC on Earth so he could spend time with his family. It was different, it was new, it was something he never thought he could have, but now he had it.

But was it really what he wanted? As he watched his five year old son chase the McKays' cat around their house, he knew that it was. He never thought it was what he wanted, but now that he had it, it was all he needed. Every now and then his mind would think back to the days when he used to live on the edge, never knowing whether he would come back from missions alive or not, but time had changed ... people change. Now, every time he thought about life on the edge, he thought of what it would mean to his wife and his son if he died on a mission. What would happen if they died? He wouldn't be able to live with himself.

No. Working at the SGC, whilst quiet now, and being back on Earth was the best way to ensure that everything he loved, everthing he cared for, everything he _lived _for, was safe.

"Katie ... Katie ... don't touch that!" Rodney McKay shouted frantically as his two year old daughter reached for a very valuable object that was resting on his desk. The young girl giggled mischeviously as she grasped the tiny object in one plump little hand and ran out of the room. Rodney let out a gasp and chased after her, a paniked expression on his face.

John had to laugh. He had been thinking about the past a lot lately and if anyone had of told him back then that McKay would one day be the proud father of two little girls John would have simply laughed in their face. McKay had never been good with kids, still wasn't for that matter. If it hadn't of been for his fantastic wife, he probably never would have made it past the first one alive.

Rodney's wife, Melissa Shaw, was a once in a life time find for the geeky scientist. She was blonde and beautiful, with long legs and a perfect set of teeth, in fact, she looked like a model. When McKay had arrived back home from Atlantis, his precious cat had passed away, once he felt he was ready he went to buy himself a new one; he did love cats after all. That was when he had met Melissa, she had been working in the pet shop at the time and when McKay told her his sob story she fell for him straight away.

"Gotcha," McKay exclamied triumphantly as he re-entered the living room with Katie in his arms. She let out an excited scream causing Rodney to scrunch up his face in protest. "No, no, no ... stop that ..." the little girl giggled and screamed even louder. "Please stop it!"

Melissa was there in minutes to rescue her husband from his screaming younger daughter. "Thank you," he said gratefully, brushing down his clothes. As soon as Katie was in her mothers arms she stopped screaming at once. Looking at her father crossly she stuck out her tounge at him. "Give me that," McKay mumbled as he wrestled his precious possession out of her tiny arms. Once he finally got it from her he set it on a cabinet high above the kitchen sink where no wondering, little hands could reach it. Melissa simply rolled her eyes at his behaviour and smiled at him fondly.

It still amazed John how McKay could keep such a beautiful women. He really wasn't the most pleasent man to be around, he was a geek and he rarely ever showed any affection. But she loved him, and he loved her, but it just seemed that he never quite got over how lucky he had been with Melissa, like it was as though he still woried that one day she'd wake up and realise who she was really married to and leave him.

"Havin' a little trouble with the two year old McKay?" John teased as Rodney took his seat next to him and opened up another beer.

"Oh shut up! You only have one, you have no idea what it's like." John rolled his eyes, McKay always pulled that one on him. His girls were six and two. Mikala, the eldest, had short, curly brown hair. She was a smart girl, as far as six year olds went, and had never, since the day she was born, been any trouble. Katie, was completly different. She had long, curly, blonde hair and the cheekiest smile John had ever seen on a kid. It seemed she was put on the earth just to distrupt McKays perfect life and be a problem.

"Alrighty then," John said, thinking hard. "Lets have a kid swap then. I'll take the girls and you can have Riley."

"Ha! I think I'll stick with my own thank you very much," Rodney snapped back quickly.

"That's because you know you couldn't handle him. Therefore, I'm the better parent," John said smugly, taking another swig of his beer.

"Actually, I think, that technically_, I'm_ the better parent." John spun around in his seat to face his wife. She was standing there, looking down at him, arms crossed, with a cocky smile on her face, similar to the one he was sure he used sometimes, they had definitely picked up each others habits over the years.

He put his beer back on the table and smilied sheepishly at her. Some things never changed, after all these years of being married to her and she could still take charge and put him in his place. It was like he was always fighting the urge to say "yes ma'am".

If everyone had been surprised at who Rodney ended up marrying, it was nothing to the shock of finding out who the women John Sheppard decided to spend the rest of his life with. Elizabeth Weir had been the head of Atlantis and therefore John's boss. Everyone could always tell the two were close, but he was her head of security and so it was nothing unusual, they had to be somewhat close in order to have a good working relationship between the two powers. But when the two fell in love and people slowly began to find out, the shock on most peoples' faces was extrodinary. Even though Elizabeth was a civilian, John was still threatened with being court-martialed. It had been a long, agonizing struggle for John to finally be able to have Elizabeth, but in the end it was so very worth it.

Now they had different jobs, she worked for the president, he worked at the SGC, an odd combination, but that was the Sheppard family.

Elizabeth sat down next to John and took a sip of his beer whilst he simply watched on in admiration.

"Speaking of Riley," McKay said suddenly realising that the Sheppard boy wasn't in the living room. "Where is he?"

"Oh don't worry McKay, he's probably just down stairs, playing in your lab," John sai cheekily. Rodney let out a strange noise and took off out of the room as fast as he could.

Elizabeth gave John a playful slap on the arm as she scowled at his comment.

"What? I just like watching him do that." John waited for her to cave. It was one of his favourite habits of hers, she would pretent to be angry, because she thought she still had to be to put him in his place, then she would realise that it didn't work anymore and she would fall smitten to him like she always did. On que, her frown turned into a smile and she kissed him delicately before getting up and moving to help Melissa who was busy in the kitchen.

There was a knock on the door to the McKays' house.

"I'll get it," John said, getting up from his seat excitedly as he knew who it was. He opened the door and smiled at his old friend Ronan Dex standing in the doorway.

"Step aside John, I need a beer," the larger man said as he entered the house. Minutes later John was nearely tackled to the ground by two young children.

"Uncle John!" the two kids shouted happily as they hugged him around the middle. Allisa was nine and the eldest child in the Dex family, she had long brown hair and a temper that made sure she always got exactally what she wanted. Patrick was four and was one of the biggest four year olds John had ever seen, he was almost like a clone of his father sporting dreadlocks that fell just above his shoulders.

"Now now children, I'm sure John wants to be able to walk again in the near future," Teyla Emmagan said to her kids as she entered through the door. She had the youngest of the Dex children, one year old Carson on her hip. Carson was a chubby little boy with a head full of very curly brown hair. Teyla and Ronan had decided to name their third child after Dr. Carson Beckett who had died on Atlantis. It was a kind gesture, one that any of them would have been glad to do, but as the Dexs' had the most children, they thought they would be the first to take the name.

Teyla greeted John with the usual kiss on the cheak, a gesture he could never really get used to. She put the bouncing Carson on the floor to play with Katie as she joined her husband in greeting the rest of the party.

Ronan, now with a beer in hand, took Rodney's still empty seat by John's side. "You look like you could use that," John said with a smirk as Ronan downed over half his beer.

"Oh yeah. I'm telling you now Sheppard, stick with the one kid," Ronan advised, slapping him hard on the shoulder, causing John to snort into his beer. "Speaking of kids, where's Riley?"

As if on que Rodney re-entered the room, dragging Riley by the arm of his jumper. It was a funny site, Rodney was too busy looking smug that he had caught the five year old that he didn't notice the dark haired boy slip out from under his jumper. The clothing went slack in McKays' hand and he turned to see what had happened. Riley ran ahead into the room towards his father as McKay stood there looking at the jumper in suprise.

"Umph," John let out as his son jumped up into his lap. "Careful buddy ... did you see who was here?"

The young Sheppard looked over at Ronan and before John could stop him he leapt from his lap, straight into Ronan's. Noticing what the boy was about to do Ronan caught him and lifted him into the air. "Hey, trouble maker," he said fondly as Riley kicked his legs out, searching for the floor that was meters below him.

"I'm telling you Sheppard, you gotta do something about that kid of yours, he's out of control," Rodney said, draging another seat over to his home made bar and pulling out another beer for himself and another for John.

"Rodney, that's not nice," Melissa said as she walked past, making her way over to Katie who was now jumping all over Rodneys' favourite chair.

John didn't say anything back, he simply watched his son run up to his mother and hug her tightly around the waist. In a way, Rodney was right, his boy was a handful, but he had always been like that. They started him at school at four so that Elizabeth could go back to work and ever since he started they had received complaints. Riley was disruptive in class, he couldn't seem to concentrate, he was grumpy and would sometimes refuse to play with the other kids. At home, he was the same, some days he would be the best kid in the would, others he would cry for no reason, kick and scream, yell and throw things. But John didn't like to make it seem like a big deal, he didn't like having other people tell him how to be a better parent, so he and Elizabeth dealt with it the best they could and hoped that it was just a phase he would grow out of.

"So when's lunch Mckay? I'm starving," Ronan asked.

"Yes, hello, nice to see you too," McKay grumbled.

"Lunch will be ready in five minutes," Melissa answered cheerfully as she went back into the kitchen where Elizabeth and Teyla were busy catching up.

Ever since they had left Atlantis and began working at their different jobs, they had made Saturday lunches a regular gathering, alternating between each of the three families houses. They had rarely missed one Saturday in the seven years that they had been back. The McKay Saturday lunches were always the best though. Teyla still cooked food no one really fancied that much, Athosian delicacies, and Elizabeth had never been much of a cook. But Melissa loved it and her food was always the best.

"So McKay, I hear your thinking about working from home soon," Ronan said with a smirk. "That will be _SO _hard for you."

Rodney scowled. "If you must know, I'm doing it so I can help out more with the kids."

John laughed as he thought about McKay being a more hands on dad. "Sure ya are McKay."

"What? You don't think I can? I'll have you know that I'm a very -" but before he could finish they were interrupted by the sound of glass shatering in the room next door.

McKay stopped and looked up in shock. "Where's Riley?" was the first thing he asked, looking around the room. Riley was the only kid missing. John got up from his chair as soon as he noticed his son wasn't in the room, McKay and Ronan quickly followed, barking orders to their kids to stay where they were. If there was broken glass, it was best to keep them away.

John was the first to enter the other room and what he saw may have shocked him if it had been the first time he had seen it happen. One of Melissa's vases was smashed into tiny peices all over the floor, Riley was standing in between the pieces looking a little shocked by what happened.

"Oh what have you done now?" McKay said, quickly pushing past John and stepping into the room. John followed straight away, reaching his son and hastily picking him up before he stepped on any of the glass with his bare feet.

"You alright buddy?" he asked once he had his son safe in his arms. But the boy squirmed in his fathers grip and whined until John had no choice but to put him on the floor, unable to keep a good grip on him any longer. As soon as Rileys feet touched the ground he pushed past Ronan who was still at the door and ran off.

"I got him," Ronan said, as he turned around and chased after the boy. As Ronan left, Elizabeth and Melissa arrived at the bedroom door. John caught Elizabeths' eye and she hung her head in disappointment. He didn't need to tell her what had happened, she just knew, this wasn't the first time it had happened.

"I'm so sorry Melissa," Elizabeth said, turning to the woman beside her. Melissa shook her head and raised a hand to stop Elizabeth.

"Think nothing of it, we never used it anyway, it was just an old vase."

Rodney was still mumbling to himself in the middle of the room as he tried to pick up the biggest pieces of the vase. John went to help him, hoping that the other man didn't say anything else to him, he was no longer in the mood to hear about what Rodney would do if it was his son that broke other peoples' things.

"Leave it boys, lunch is ready, we'll just lock this door and clean it up after," Melissa said kindly. Rodney complained about doing it now but John knew he wouldn't delay a meal just to do something he could do later.

"You do realise this makes one more thing of yours I'm technically allowed to break," Rodney said as he and John exited the room. John had to admit, Rodney was a good friend for letting it go, he knew when it wasn't the right moment to put his foot in.

"I know, I know," John replied, rolling his eyes. As McKay walked on ahead to set the table for Melissa, Elizabeth fell behind to speak to John.

"Where'd he run off to?" she asked, sounding a little fed up.

"Uh, I dunno, Ronan went to look for him, I'll go," he offered, feeling as though it was probably his turn to talk to his son. Elizabeth looked as though she was going to argue, but he quickly assured her it was okay and went off looking for Ronan.

Ronan exited Mikala's bedroom, shutting the door behind him. He noticed John and spoke to him. "He's in there, looks like he's a little tired, he just went in there and lay on the bed."

John nodded his head in thanks and Ronan walked away, giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. John entered the room and saw Riley curled up on Mikala's bed.

"Sorry daddy," the boy said when he turned to see who came into the room. John knelt at the side of the bed, facing his sons back.

"Why'd you break Melissa's stuff?" John asked, it was a little blunt, but he tried to be as gentle as possible. He saw the boy shrug his shoulders and sighed, he was never very good at the whole discipline thing when it came to his own son. The truth was, he and Elizabeth had tried everything and nothing seemed to work.

"Well, we're having lunch now, so come on and have something to eat, then we can talk about this a little later," John coaxed.

"I'm not hungry," Riley muttered, shaking his head. John felt like turning his son around, forcing him to talk to him, not to the wall, but he left it for now, truth was, he felt a little fed up himself. No matter what he said to his son it never seemed to sink in.

"Alright then, suit yourself." It was a little harsh, but the boy knew where to find them if he was hungry.

Lunch passed without too much more fuss, Carson shoved a carrot up his nose and clapped his hands happily when everyone laughed at him. Katie spilt custard all down McKays top when it was time for desert, Mikala laughed at her sister and a cranky McKay muttered something about his whole family being against him and got up to clean himself up. Riley never came out to join them, even though Teyla went into the room he was in, trying to get him to come out, but she came back and told them all he was asleep.

After lunch, it was usual for them all to sit and watch a movie, it was usually some disney film for the kids, but tonight they were going to watch Batman Begins, and Rodney was probably more excited than the children. But John didn't get to stay, Elizabeth and he both decided it would be best to take Riley home, he had had a big day.

"Sorry, we're eating and running," Elizabeth said to Melissa as John arrived at the door, ready to leave, a sleepy Riley in his arms.

"Don't worry, it happens to all of us," she said sympathetically. "And don't worry a thing about the vase," she added as John had offered to pay her back for it earlier.

"Thanks," John added as he made for the door, Rileys hands were wrapped around his neck, his head resting on his shoulder. As he made for the door he heard Riley mumble over his shoulder, "Sorry Aunty Mel."

Melissa kissed the boy goodbye assuring him it was okay and John made his way to the car with Elizabeth following close behind.

"Is it normal for a five year old to sleep so much?" Elizabeth said once they had arrived back at their own place and were getting ready for bed. Riley, after tossing and turning the whole trip home had fallen asleep as soon as they had put him to bed.

"I don't know, is it normal for a five year old to smash other peoples' things?" John rubbed his eyes tiredly as he jumped into bed. "I'm running out of things to say to him."

Elizabeth put her hands on her hips and shook her head in frustration. "Ronan and Teyla have three kids, I don't think they ever had this much trouble with any of theirs."

Not wanting to think too much more into it the two simply assured each other it wasn't there faults and they would try harder to talk to their son in the morning.

"Night," Elizabeth said as she kissed him on the check tiredly.

"Night," John replied. With a sigh, he made sure Elizabeth was settled under the blankets, then he turned off the light, put his head on the pillow and drifted off to sleep.

** end**

**AN: **Okay, well chapter 2 is already written, but I wanted to see what everyone thought before I put up chapter 2, once again. Sorry for any spelling mistakes. And please review to tell me how you liked it. I only need to REALLY know for chapter 1 so I can see what people think, after that its just for fun and to know people are still reading and that it's worth my time. How do you like the kids? Cute? he he.


	2. Chapter 2: The Start of John's Troubles

**Note:** OKay, here it is. Chapter 2. Sorry if its got a lot of errors, I wrote it in a hurry (well the end anyway). No idea when the next update will be, hopefully soon. Thanks everyone for all the kind reviews, hope you enjoy this chapter too. Made it longer so you could make it last till the update, lol.

Thanks again to everyone who reviewed, glad your liking it.

**fyd818**: I added a little bit towards the end, with Baby Carson in it, just cause you like him. He he, thats why its always good to tell me your favourites, cause I write to please. Thanks for the great review, I'm trying to stay in character as much as possible, but they are a little bit diff now so it makes it hard keeping them the same, but not, lol.

**gabumon: **Your close, but not exactally. A lot of stories are a bit like that, so I'm trying to keep away from that. Riley does have something up with him, but its not that hes some super ancient, lol. You'll find out soon though. Good speculating though. :) 

**Pairings:** Sam/Jack, Rodney/OC, Teyla/Ronan, Sheppard/Weir. Yayness!!!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own StarGate Atlantis or its character, nor do I own StarGate Sg-1 and it's characters. This is merely fan fiction, written for my own amusement.

**Hearts in Atlantis.**

**Chapter Two: The start of John's Troubles.**

Life at the SGC was a lot different from what it used to be. There was less off-world travel now a days, since the government decided it was going to put less funding into the SGC program. Most of the time John was training, training others, or doing paper work, he probably only got to travel through the stargate once or twice a week.

Now that the SGC was a calmer place, General Jack O'Neill, who was now in command of the entire SGC, despite his retirement many years ago, had allowed for a more family friendly environment. It wasn't as though people bought their families to work every day, but due to worker demands, there was child care in case anyone needed it and if anyone was working over time, families would often come to the SGC and wait for them in the mess room. So it was nothing like the harsh, living away from your family life that John had imagined.

It wasn't as though kids were running around the base, they were restricted to only two rooms in the living areas, but it felt less like a military base and more like a life style. When he was on Atlantis it was very much go, go, go, but because everyone was living there every day, for years on end, there were days off where everyone would spend it together, the Athosian kids visited every now and then, and everyone was practically family. When John first started working at the SGC, that family life style that he had gotten so used to seemed to be taken harshly away from them, but once Jack O'Neill had stepped into command it became much like Atlantis again, a better place to be.

So John liked his job, he didn't work much with Rodney anymore, he was confined to a lab at Area 51, but he still had Ronan on his team, and occasionally Teyla when she wasn't at home baby sitting Carson and Patrick.

There were days when he'd miss Atlantis. When all the ZPM's had been depleated and the city sunk back to the bottom of the ocean, everyone on Atlantis had no choice but to evacuate the city. The wraith threat still lingured, but the government simply informed them it wasn't their problem anymore. They fought for two years, arguing that it could fall into other, less capable hands and that they would loose whatever chance they had of finding out more about the ancients. So it felt like John still had unfinnished business there, but it didn't look like any of them would be going back any time soon.

"Hey Sheppard," General Jack O'Neill said as he passed John in the corridor.

"Sir," John said respectfully.

"Heading home to that family of yours?" he asked. Ever since Jack got a family of his own he had made it his business to know how everyone he worked with was going with theirs.

"Uh, just got a few more things to finish then I will be."

"It's a Sunday, Colonel, you shouldn't be here at all, it's nearly lunch time, why don't you finish whatever it is you have to do tomorrow?" Jack looked seriously at him as though it was an order then kept walking to his office.

It was true John didn't have to be here, but it was either go into work and finish paper work so he could have an easy Monday, or go to a childs birthday party where he would have to deal with hundreds of other peoples little kids running around him all day. He promised Elizabeth he'd go with her, he also promised Rodney that he'd go and keep him company as Ronan and Teyla weren't going to be there as they didn't know the family whos child it was having the party.

His concious getting the better of him, John caved in and decided he'd better head over to the party.

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The Mason's home was in the middle of nowhere, it was a small country town with hardly anything to do. Their house was enormous and was on a huge space of land. John pulled up and was shocked when he saw more kids then he'd ever seen, outside of a school, running around this giant space of land. There was a jumping castle, the families horses were all saddled up with kids riding them happily. He took a deep breath before getting out of the car.

"Thank god you're here," Rodney said as soon as John stepped through the house, said his hello's and stepped into the party from hell going on out in the Mason's giant back yard. "I thought you were going to leave me here to die."

"Well, I thought about it," John said as he dodged a large group of giggling six year old girls, each one with a balloon in their hand.

"I hate it here, I hate kids ... why did I ever have kids? If I hadn't of had kids, I would never have been invited to this stupid party," McKay shouted, lowering his voice slightly as the birthday boy, Mathew Mason walked past, looking like a spoilt little brat with his nose high in the air and a large present in his hands.

"Is there anything this family doesn't have?" John asked, ignoring Rodney as he saw six dirt bikes resting on the ground next to a giant three garaged shed.

"DADDY!!" an excited squeel filled the air. John saw McKay cower slightly as a very excited Mikala and Katie rushed at him.

"Oh no!" Rodney said, looking to John for help. John walked away from him laughing as he heard Mikala begging him for a horse.

John looked around for Elizabeth, but it was impossible, there were so many parents around it was like trying to find a needle in a hay stack. If the Mason's invited this many people to their sons sixth birthday, he'd hate to see what his twenty first would be like.

As John passed the families massive swimming pool he finally found a face he recognised. "Hey buddy."

"Dad!" Riley said happily as he ran to hug his father. The young boy was in his board shorts, soaking wet, his messy black hair falling limply into his eyes. John started slightly when Riley pulled away and he noticed his dry clothes were now dripping wet. "Look dad, come look."

John was led towards the pool by an excited Riley and for a second thought he was going to try and push him in, but instead he pointed to a sunken object that was just visable in the middle of the pool. It was a bike.

"Matty said he didn't want it so I put it in the pool," Riley said jumping up and down and still pointing his green eyes lit up in excitement. John realised what his son was telling him and had to hold back a laugh.

"Riley, you shouldn't do things like that," John said, but it was no use, he actually found it quiet funny. If the spoilt kid didn't want it than it was probably better off in the middle of the pool. Nevertheless he grabbed his sons hand and told him to stop pointing, he didn't want anyone else to know what he had done. "You seen your mother?"

"She's sitting away from Mattys mum because she talks too much," he said, pointing to a small group of women far away from the main group of adults. John could see Elizabeth now, she was dressed up, looking very nice in a black party dress. He smiled as he watched her cross her arms and whisper something to Melissa as she glared at Mrs. Mason.

"Thank's pal. Now be good," John told his son.

"OKay daddy," Riley said. John ruffled his hair, messing it up even more as he made his way over towards his wife.

"You left me, how could you leave me?" Rodney said, jumping in Johns path.

"You were busy discussing horses with your girls, I didn't want to interrupt that precious moment."

"Oh very funny, ha ha," Rodney said, glaring at John.

"Can I please see my wife now?" John asked. It wasn't a question, it was more a hint for him to move out of his way.

"Huh?" Rodney said, clearly not getting it. He turned around and looked to where John was signalling. "Oh right ... that wife."

John screwed up his face at the coment Rodney made. "Yes Rodney, THAT wife." John pushed past and continued making his way towards Elizabeth.

"She feeling alright?" Rodney asked, catching up and falling in to step beside him.

"I dunno Rodney, I assume she's fine. Why?"

"She just, I don't know, looks a little pale," Rodney squinted at Elizabeth and John hit him on the arm.

"Would you stop that! People will think you're a mad man. She's fine, now can I please see her now?" McKay nodded, John rolled his eyes and continued to walk.

Elizabeth spotted him before he reached her and mouthed what looked like "finally," at him. He mouthed a "sorry" back and she just rolled her eyes. When he reached her he gave her a swift kiss which she quickly returned.

"Ohhhh, John, you're looking very nice," a women to Elizabeth's left said, looking him up and down. John smiled his usual smile as he moved in closer to Elizabeth. One thing he hated at childrens parties was all the single mums. He heard Rodney let out a dignified humph and move in closer to his wife. The ladies didn't even give him a second look.

"Excuse us for a minute," Elizabeth said, taking Johns hand and walking away from the group. John distinctly heard one of the women make an approving comment about his butt as he walked off.

"You sure took your time," Elizabeth said crossly when they finally stopped a good distance away from the other group.

"Uh, yeah, lots to do," he lied. She gave him a disbelieveing look. "But at least we know my butt looks good today."

She tried her best to keep frowning at him, but her face broke into a smile as he cracked his usual jokes. John looked her over for a second, she did look a little pale. As much as he hated to admit it, McKay usually was more observant at these kind of things then he was.

"You feeling alright?" he asked her, after agreeing with himself that she definitely did look a little under the weather.

"Me?" she said, a little surprised. "Yeah, feeling fine. Why?"

"Just look a little pale that's all." He watched her closely as she brushed off his accusation. One thing he knew about Elizabeth was that if she was sick, she'd never admit it. One incident when they had been back on Atlantis, she had been standing there, listening to himself and Rodney argue over how they were going to save the city. Next thing he had side glanced at her and she was falling to the ground. He had had to carry her to the infirmary, she would never give him any warning when she was feeling unwell.

"Where do you keep disappearing too?" McKay questioned as he led an exhausted Melissa over to him and Elizabeth. John smiled and shook his head, there was no way he was going to give Rodney the flick today.

They all stayed for the cake and the opening of more presents, but they left soon after. John didn't really want to give Riley a chance to throw more of the unwanted presents into the pool, he was sure Elizabeth wouldn't have found it as funny as John had.

McKay had been far too keen to get out of there, he refused to let Melissa say goodbye to all of the guests, complaining until she let him have his way. He wrestled Katie into the car, she was refusing to leave screaming "horsey, horsey!", at the top of her little lungs, and said a quick goodbye to John, Elizabeth and Riley before he sped off in a hurry.

"If they get a horse, then I want one of those bikes," Riley said as he jumped in a pile of mud just before John managed to get him into the car. "Ewww," the boy said, smiling as the mud splashed up onto his clothes.

"Great," John said in frustration as he grabbed his son by the arm and dragged him to the car. "Don't get any of that on the seat."

"Noooo dad," he droaned automatically.

John looked around to see where Elizabeth was, surprised that she hadn't cut in and told Riley off herself. He spotted her a few feet away, her forehead scrunched up and one hand circling her temple. "You okay?" John asked her, a little concerned, as he secured Riley in the car and shut the door.

She quickly stopped what she was doing and forced a smile. "Yeah, fine. Just been a long day."

He looked at her suspiciously, but she ignored him and jumped in the car before he could say anything further. Shaking his head at how stubborn she could be. He got in the car and headed for home.

It took John over twenty minutes to settle Riley down to sleep. Elizabeth hadn't said much since they got back from the party, she just headed to their bedroom to get ready for bed. Riley wanted to play with his lego, claiming he wasn't tired, it took a promise that he would buy him more lego if he went to bed, for John to finally get the boy to go to sleep.

John let out an exhausted yawn as he made his way to his bedroom, grateful that he didn't have to start work till ten tomorrow morning. By the time he reached the bedroom, Elizabeth was already sound asleep. He let out a sigh as he watched her sleeping soundly before he himself got changed and headed to bed.

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The alarm sounded and John immediatly snapped out of the sweet sensation that was sleep. He groaned loudly as he struggled to switch the darn thing off, his head still buried in his pillow. Finally he shut the annoying noise off, he hadn't had a very good sleep, Elizabeth had tossed and turned all night. He stretched out with a big yawn, but stopped immediatly when his foot connected with skin. Lifting his head up from the pillow and looking next to him he was suprised to see Elizabeth lying in bed next to him.

At first he thought the alarm had gone off early, as far as he knew she was supposed to be up and at work by nine, and she usually got up early to get Riley ready for school. She must have over slept. But if she was in bed, did that mean that Riley was still there too?

"Aw crap!" he said, still feeling very sleepy, but being forced to get out of bed to take his son to school. He sat up and stretched his back. "Elizabeth, come on, time to get up!"

When there was no response, not even a grunt, John turned around and had a second look at the sleeping figure next to him. "Liz," he said, shaking her gently. She stirred slightly and this time she did let out a small grown, but then John noticed that something was very wrong, she didn't say anything and he could hear her breathing, it was a lot louder than usual and it almost sounded like each one was a struggle.

"Liz," he said a little more frantically as he shook her a little more roughly this time.

Slowly her eyes opened. "John?" she said, looking at him as she took a stangled breath. John stared at his wife in shock when she started to tear up as she struggled to breath properly.

"Liz, what's wrong?" he said, feeling her pale forehead. She was burning up, that was for sure.

She shook her head slowly as she sniffed to try and hold back tears. "I don't feal real good," she said with a deep sob.

He rested a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down, but she was shaking violently. "Come on, we better take you to see a doctor," he said, trying to keep his voice as steady as posible. Before she could answer he removed her blankets so he could help her up. She was curled up in a little ball, her arms wrapped tightly around her stomache. Obviously she had tried to go to work cause she was already dressed in her work clothes, save for the fact she had no shoes on.

He helped her to slowly sit up. His plan was to take her to the SGC, when they had bought there own house they had made sure they got one close to the SGC, to make it easier in case anything ever happened. When he had signed up for work he was told it was better for him and his family to do any of their medical business through StarGate Command. If normal doctors were to find something unusual, they would have a hard time explaining that what they had was probably from another galaxy and very foreign to Earth.

He got her to sit up okay, he even managed to help her stand, she was shaking badly, but she was standing. She help on to him firmly for a second, then she let go, put her hand over her mouth and made a dash for the toilet in the ensuit. Colapsing to the floor in front of the toilet she made it there just in time before she was violently sick.

"Daddy?" John heard faintly from outside their closed bedroom door.

"Oh shit," he said, running a hand through his hair, he had completly forgotten about Riley.

Elizabeth was visably shaking, but she was up and her breathing was slightly more steady now. She pointed at the door as though giving him permission to leave her for now. John hesitated slightly, he didn't like leaving her alone when she was like this, but he had to take of Riley first. He opened the door and stepped into the corridor where Riley was waiting for him, he shut the door behind him so he wouldn't see his mother sick.

"I'm late for school," he said looking as though it was his fault and that he was going to get yelled at.

"I know pal," John said, giving him a reassuring smile. "Your mum's not well, I'm gonna have to get Aunty Teyla to take care of you, okay?"

Riley looked at him sleepily and nodded his head. John quickly found the cordless phone and dialed Teyla. She didn't ask questions, he was sure she heard the urgency in his voice. Promising she would be over in less than five minutes, John hung up and got his son ready to go. Riley behaved himself, which John was grateful for, he was more concerned with finding out what was wrong with Elizabeth at the moment.

Teyla arrived at the door in no time at all, Carson was in her arms and Patrick was by her side, still in his pajamas, looking as though he had just been woken up. John felt bad for calling her when she already had two of her own kids to look after, but the McKays were at least a twenty minute drive away where as Teyla and Ronan only lived a few blocks away.

"Is Elizabeth alright?" she asked, concern obvious in her voice.

"Ah, don't know," John said honestly trying to force a smile. Riley looked up at him worridly. "Thanks for doing this for me Teyla."

"It's a pleasure John, you would have done the same for me. Come on Riley," she said with a smile, holding her free hand out for him to take.

The boy hesitated only a moment looking up at John. "I'll come get you as soon as I can Riley," he said, bending down and giving him a hug. Teyla led him down the drive way, John watched as he dragged his feet slightly, looking back towards the bedroom window.

He hated to say it, but John was glad he was out of the way, it was one less thing he had to worry about. Now he just had to get back to Elizabeth. He entered their room and found her leaning against the bathroom wall, inches away from the toilet bowl. Her legs were tucked up under her chin and her arms were still wrapped tightly around her middle.

"Come on, I'm taking you to the SGC," John explained, bending down to help her up again. She batted him away stubbornly.

"No John. I'm just not feeling very well, it's nothing serious." John didn't care what she said, he didn't even listen to her, he grabbed her arms and hoisted her to her feet. She groaned at him, but didn't fight as he practically carried her to the car.

The trip to the SGC felt like the longest trip he had ever had. No sooner had they pulled out of their drive way when Elizabeth passed out. He didn't waste time trying to wake her up, he simply put his foot down and made his way to the SGC as quickly as he could. As he pulled up Jack O'Neill and his wife, Samantha Carter were just getting out of their car. Upon seeing his predicament, they made to help him straight away. John carried Elizabeth all the way to the infirmary, Jack let them know they were coming so as soon as he got Elizabeth there they were ready to take a look at her.

After they had put a breathing mask on her and injected her with something, John was asked to leave the room, by means of protest he decided to pase outside the infirmary. Jack stood close by with Sam, Elizabeth had worked with both of them on several occasions, gaining their respect long before she moved to Atlantis, it was no wonder they too were worried about her.

"Where's Riley?" Jack asked, clearly trying to break the silence and distract John.

"With Teyla," he answered simply. It was strange how this bothered him so much. He had seen people sick before, seen people passed out before, but it had been so long since anything like this had happened. After they all left Atlantis and their lives settled down, bad things rarely happened to them nowadays. Which John could confidently say he was very pleased with. But when they did happen, it made it that much worse.

The only time John had ever seen Elizabeth sick was when she was pregnat with Riley. He didn't know much about pregnancies, but he could tell that it had definitely not been an easy one for her. That was mostly why John had never brought up the topic of having another child with Elizabeth, he wasn't too sure how she'd take the idea after all the trouble she went through the first time.

"There you are," John looked up to see Rodney rushing down the hall towards him. "Teyla called me ... Elizabeth okay?" McKay looked like he wasn't quiet sure where he was. He had probably heard the news and came as soon as he heard.

"Not sure yet," John said as he stopped pacing to look at the new arrival.

"You should have called, we could have taken Riley, we had new vases for him to break and everything," McKay said, clearly trying to get a smile or something out of John.

John just gave McKay a look. "OKay, I was glad you let him go over to Teyla's, the girls have been a real handful today without Riley coming over and ... but I would have, if you asked, of course," he added noting the look on Johns face.

As much as McKay could be a pain in the back side sometimes, John was grateful for all that he had done. Not only for him, but for Elizabeth as well. Rodney had always had a soft spot for Elizabeth and sometimes John forgot to respect that, they were friends after all, for long before John even came onto the scene at Antartica where they had been working. Rodney should have been one of the first people to call, truth was, calling him to let him know would mean that the problem was serious, and John wasn't ready for that to be an issue just yet.

"Colonel Sheppard?" The infirmary door opened and a smiling nurse summoned him back into the room. John and Rodney exchanged a look before both, unknowingly, tried to beat each other into the room. It was a habit that neither had ever quiet let go, they were just always going to compete with each other over everything.

Elizabeth was sitting up in bed, she still looked very pale, but she seemed to be doing a lot better then she had been that morning. She smiled at them when they entered the room. "I knew you wouldn't have gotten far," she said smiling at John sheepishly.

He tried to return the smile, but he knew it must have looked a little forced.

"I'm fine John," she said, reading his thoughts like she always did.

"Ha!" Rodney exclaimed, butting in. Elizabeth turned to look at him, not even fased how or when he got to the SGC, seemed she just expected him to be there. "That's what you always say," McKay added looking as doubtful as John knew he himself probably did.

Elizabeth opened her mouth to argue, but at that moment Dr. Andrews entered carrying Elizabeth's chart. When everyone had heard that the SGC would be getting a new doctor, and that their name was Dr. Andrews, everyone had assumed it was to be a male. But when Dr. Hannah Andrews had entered the room everyone had been pleasently suprised when a very attractive, dark haired women showed up for work the next day. At first she seemed too young, too inexperienced, but as time went on, everyone had agreed that she was right up there with Dr. Fraiser, Dr. Lee and Dr. Beckett.

"Whats the diagnosis doc?" John asked, hoping that it wasn't anything too serious.

"You have nothing to worry about Colonel," Hannah said with a reassuring smile in John and Rodney's direction. "Elizabeth is fine."

"See," Elizabeth said smugly, proving her point. John glared at her, then turned back at the doctor as she continued.

"But, she does seem to have some sort of virus or stomache flu. That's why she was so sick earlier, her body just shut down, unable to cope with the changes in her system the virus was making. I ran some more tests, but as you can see she is feeling much better again," Hannah gave a wink in Elizabeth's direction, John knew she was laying the "she's fine," thing on a little too thick, no doubt Elizabeth had asked her too, just to keep John happy. "I do, however, recommend plenty of bed rest, and perhaps the next few days off from work."

John nodded in approval, one thing was for sure, Elizabeth did work too hard, she always had. "What!" Elizabeth shouted loudly. "That's no good for me, I have an important meeting on tomorrow."

"Well thats too bad," John said, now feeling it was his turn to be smug. "They'll just have to do this one without you."

She sunk back into the infirmary bed she lay in and crossed her arms gumpily. "We'll talk about it when I go home," she said under her breath, so John could barely hear. He raised an eyebrow at her, still amazed at just how stuborn she could be.

Dr. Andrews had allowed John to take Elizabeth home whenever he was ready. Jack had given him the rest of the day off to spend with his family, assuring him that the base wouldn't suddenly catch on fire without him. When John had made sure that Elizabeth was tucked comfortable and safely in bed, he left to pick up Riley from Teyla's house whilst she got some sleep.

It was strange, but John couldn't help but feel a little stupid. Dr. Andrews had made it quite clear that what happened with Elizabeth was nothing serious, she even showed John her chart. But when he saw how sick she was, he couldn't help but panic, now he felt silly that he over exaggerated so much and raced her off to the SGC in total panic. He had spent such a long time of his life not having to worry about anyone but himself that he forgot what it was like to actual care so much about something you loved so much.

Before John even made it up to Ronan and Teyla's front door he could hear the yelling and screaming going on inside. With three kids, and a husband who sometimes acted like a kid, it was always like that at the Dexs' . He knocked on the door loudly so that they would be able to hear him over all of the noise.

"Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssss," a cheaky voice sung out as the door was opened.

"Patrick? Is that you?" John asked, looking down at the dark figure trying to hide behind the door.

"No!" the figure giggled.

"Oh really ..." John pushed the door open quickly and grabbed the boy in one swift movement as he screamed excitedly.

"Put me down, put me down," Patrick squealed in between laughs.

"What's all the noise," Ronan boomed out as he appeared in the corridor. "Sheppard ... hear your having a bit of a bad day."

Ronan pulled John into a tight hug as Patrick ran off down the corridor with his arms sticking out, making aeroplane noises.

"John," Teyla said smiling as they entered the kitchen. "How's Elizabeth?"

"She's fine, just a virus," John explained as Teyla looked extremely relieved. "Hey, thanks again for taking care of Riley for me."

"He was no problem at all," Teyla assured him, which John was very glad to hear.

"Staying for dinner?" Ronan asked as he sat at the dinner table and put his feet on top of it.

"Ew dad," Allisa said looking at her father disapprovingly. She was sitting at the table doing her homework when his feet had appeared inches away from her. Ronan smirked as his daughter moved her stuff further down the table.

"Na, I'd better get the boy home," John said as he looked around the room for his son. Patrick was now busy playing peek-a-boo with baby Carson who was sitting in his high chair, clearly ready for food. It seemed the one year old was beginning to catch on how the game worked. Everytime Patrick covered his eyes with his hands Carson would shove his fork at them as though trying to pry them open.

"He's in the living room watching cartoons," Teyla said, taking the fork off Carson as Patrick started to winge.

"Mine!" John heard Carson insist angrily as he headed for the lounge room. Riley was sitting on the floor, his eyes glued to the TV and his finger in his mouth. John took a moment to watch the boy sitting there peacefully. He hoped he would be this quiet when he got him home, the last thing he wanted was for him to be difficult when he had Elizabeth to take care of.

It was then that John noticed what his son was actually doing. His finger was in his mouth and at first it simply looked like he was biting his nails but as John watched him he noticed that he was in fact bitting down hard on his actual finger.

"Hey," John said loudly as he moved closer to his son, Riley didn't even look up to greet his father. "Riley stop that!"

John grabbed his sons little arm and tugged hard, trying to get him to let go of his own finger. But Riley let out a whine and attempted to kick John away.

"Stop it!" John said again, much louder this time. He heard hurried footsteps make their way towards the room and John knew they would be Teyla and Ronans, but he was too busy with his son to care. Riley closed his eyes and bit down as hard as he could as John still tried to wrestle his finger free. Finally giving in the boy opened his mouth and released his finger. John inspected his sons hand and noticed that his finger was bleeding.

Before John could say or do anything Riley was kicking and screaming. John wrestled with the small boy as much as he could, trying hard to calm him down. But Riley kicked out and wriggled himself to the floor. As John tried to sit him up, the little boy started crying. "No!" he yelled at John, trying to push him away as he cried hysterically on the floor.

"Riley, what is it?" John asked, trying to keep calm, when all he wanted to do was ask someone to help him. Riley didn't answer, instead he wriggled his hands free and, scrunching them into tight fists, dug them into the side of his head as he sqeezed his eyes shut. John grabbed his arms and held them back as Riley began to cry louder in frustration.

John just watched helplessly, unsure of what to do. "What do I do?" he said, turning around to Ronan who was now looking on in shock from the doorway. As soon as John had asked the question Ronan had jumped in to help. Over powering the five year old, Ronan got him to stop struggling on the ground and sat him up. Even though he knew it was helpless Riley still tried to fight the large man the whole time. The crying faltered for a second as Riley stared angrily at Ronan trying to catch his breath. John took the moment to grab his son and pull him into a tight embrace. Defeated, the boy wrapped his arms around his father as much as he could and the last of his cries seemed to die away.

Giving him a moment, John tried to get his son to let him go so that he could stand up, but the boy whined and shook his head every time John tried to pull him away. Not wanting to upset him again, John stood awkwardly. Riley moved his arms up around Johns neck and wrapped his legs around his waist, his head resting on Johns chest as he continued to sob.

"He's just had a big day," Teyla tried to assure John. But he could tell from the look on her face that even after a rough day, she had never seen a child behave like that.

John had never been so glad to be home. Riley fell asleep in Johns arms on the walk home, not wanting to wake him, John simply put him straight into bed. He watched as the boy tossed and turned for a bit before heading off to his own bedroom. What was wrong with their son? Why had he acted like that? He had been trying to hurt himself, John knew that, but why? He wanted to talk to Elizabeth about it, but he didn't want to trouble her right now.

As he reached his room, Elizabeth was once again already asleep. Not even undressing, John simply colapsed in bed next to her and lay awake, buried in his own thoughts.

** end**

**AN: **Sorry if there are more spelling mistakes then usual, I rushed the last but so I could have it up tonight. And dunno when the next update will be, am very busy next week or so, but I will try. It is fun to write so will defintely be doing it in my free time. Once again, love to know what you think.


	3. Chapter 3: Complications & Misscommunica

**Note:** Ha ha, catchy chapter title hey, thought I'd spruce it up a bit. I know this is a short chapter, but I had to seperate chap 3 into 2 parts to make for a quicker update. So the second half will be chap 4, but you wont get that for a while, so make this one last for at least 3 days or so, he he. Sorry for spelling mistakes, I worked on it at night when I have been extremely tired and have proff read it even later at night, lol. So hope you enjoy, still love knowing what you think. Sorry this one is a little slow, just trying to set up the story.

**gabumon : **Ha ha, no no, not bite it off, he was merely biting on it. I used to get really bad headaches when I didn't sleep enough, so to get rid of the pain of the headache I bit my finger or squeezed my toe to try and distract me from it, lol. Thats merely what he was trying to do, distract himself from something. Ohh, your already making conections, you're a smart one ;)

**fyd818: **I love Rodney as a dad too, I just hope I can keep him in character in later chapters, lol. You'll see what I mean later, it's just, he has to be a dad sometime. And Elizabeth isn't out of the woods just yet, but you shall see how she goes. Ohhh, you think its connected too hey, hmmm, maybe. ;) LOL, the Dex kids are cute, they sort of just popped into my head and now they've taken over and are writting themselves. And an only child, awww, you missed all the fun. Hope you enjoy this one just as much, promise the next one will be longer. He he.

**Pairings:** Sam/Jack, Rodney/OC, Teyla/Ronan, Sheppard/Weir. Yayness!!!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own StarGate Atlantis or its character, nor do I own StarGate Sg-1 and it's characters. This is merely fan fiction, written for my own amusement.

**Hearts in Atlantis.**

**Chapter Three: Complications and Misscommunications.**

John couldn't quite recall when he had actually fallen asleep. To him, it felt like he lay awake for ages, watching Elizabeth sleeping peacefully next to him. But sometime before day break, he must have drifted off because when he next opened his eyes it was day light. He lay there for a few minutes, deep in thought about what he had to do that day, what he had to sort out, when he heard a loud crashing noise coming from the ensuit.

"Crap," he recognised it to be Elizabeth's voice, coming from the other room. He sat up in bed, trying to get a look into their bathroom, but he needn't have bothered, for Elizabeth chose that moment to pop her head around the corner, obviously checking to see if she had woken him.

"Morning," John said, waving at her sleepily as she looked at him apologetically.

"Sorry."

"Na," he stretched out in bed. "I was already awake."

She nodded her head, looking at him a little funny, almost as though she was up to something she shouldn't have been. John examined her for a few minutes before she caught on that he was trying to figure her out, and ducked back into the bathroom.

"Hey Elizabeth," he called, catching on to what he knew his wife was trying to do. "You're not trying to go to work are you?"

"No!" came the blunt reply from the bathroom. He knew his wife well enough to know that she actually meant yes, and he slapped his hand down on the bed in frustration.

"Cause, you know, you're supposed to be resting."

There was a long pause, John raised his eyebrows, waiting for a response. Next thing Elizabeth came into full view as she exited the bathroom. She was in her work suit, black skirt, white blouse and black jacket, John just gave her a disbelieving look.

"I feel fine, John, and this meeting today is too important to miss."

He dropped his head back onto his pillow angrily. "So it's more important than your health is it?"

She opened her mouth to answer, shut it again, then put her hands on her hips as though he was being unreasonable. "John -"

"Elizabeth!" he interupted her. She gave him a look that used to tell him he was way out of line. But when you were married to someone for six years, there was no way out of line. He did, however drop his tone, slightly. "What is so important about this meeting?"

She studdied him for a moment, looking as though she was struggling with herself whether she should tell him or not. That was when he suddenly became a little more interested in her. What _was _the meeting about? Obviously if she was hesitating to tell him, it meant it wasn't just some boring political meeting. "Elizabeth," he pushed her, sitting up now, a little more interested. "What's this meeting about?"

"I was going to wait," she said, obviously realising that she wasn't going to get out of answering this one. "Just until I had discussed it further with the President and I knew for sure it was being concidered."

"Knew for sure that what was being concidered?" John urged her on through gritted teeth. He was tired and cranky at how stubborn she was being and he didn't much feel like playing games with her, he just wanted his question answered.

"The return of an expedition team back on Atlantis." Elizabeth dropped the bomb shell on John, looking at him as though she was waiting for him to jump for joy, but John didn't much feel like doing that just yet.

"What?" he said, not sure he had heard her right.

"The President suggested it a little while back, but it was merely an empty thought. Rodney and I have been working on a plan of action for a few weeks now, one that we could put forward to the President, hoping that he would seriously concider the continuation of the expedition." John could tell Elizabeth was very excited, she was looking at him eagerly, hoping to get the same reaction.

"You and Rodney have been working on a plan for a few weeks?" he said, looking a little put out. "And you're just telling me about this now!"

"Well, I didn't want to tell you until I was sure. It's just notes on paper, nothing verbal yet, that's what the meeting today is about," she said, sounding hurt at his lack of enthusiasim.

John laughed at her as he rubbed his eyes tiredly. This was the last thing he had wanted to hear at the moment. Sure, he had thought about it, alot actually, he missed Atlantis, he wanted more than anything to go back and finished what he'd started. But they were together now and John doubted very much, that after all the fuss that was made over their getting engaged, they would still be allowed to work together. Plus, they had Riley now ... _Riley_, John suddenly remembered, he still hadn't spoken to his son about his strange behaviour last night and he still had no idea what to tell Elizabeth.

She must have noticed that he was less than thrilled by the idea of going back to Atlantis because she closed her eyes and hung her head, as though sorry that she had even bought it up. "I'm sorry John, I should have told you, I just thought you'd be happier to hear about it when I knew for sure."

John didn't look at his wife, he didn't like to see that he had upset her because he knew he would most likely give in. But he had every right to be angry with her. Less than twenty four hours ago she had been in the infirmary, she still looked paler then usual, yet she was refusing to rest like she had been asked and he knew he wouldn't be able to stop her.

"Do what you want," he said, tossing the sheets back angrily and getting out of bed. He grabbed a jumper and pulled it over his head roughly.

"John ..." Elizabeth began. He waited for her to finish what she had been about to say, but she didn't continue. Taking the silence as a sign that their conversation was done, he left the room without another look at Elizabeth.

"Hey Dad," a wide awake Riley said as he ran past John in the hallway. John waved at him as he passed, noticing that Elizabeth had already dressed and, as the boy was full of energy, had obviously fed him breakfast too. It still amazed him how she could do so much work before he had even got out of bed at seven.

Retreating to the kitchen to get a much needed cup of coffee, John listened as Elizabeth said a loving goodbye to Riley in the hall.

"See you tonight mummy," he heard Riley say. When John next looked up she was standing in the kitchen looking at him nervously.

"I'll be back as soon as I'm done," she promised. He took a sip of his coffee and nodded.

"Okie dokie!" Knowing that she'd be pissed at his blunt reply he thought it best not to make eye contact with her just yet. He heard her let out a frustrated sigh before letting the door slam behind her as she left. John took the free moment to let out an angry sigh of his own. Ever since he had first met Elizabeth, they had argued. They loved each other, they were husband and wife, of course they loved each other, but the arguments still continued. Neither was ever really sure why, difference of oppinions, fight for the higher power. John often wondered if Elizabeth still felt he didn't trust her, they had had the original argument long ago, but when it came to deeper issues or things they had to sort out together she often put up a barrier as though she knew he wouldn't trust her. But he did ... well, he thought he did. It just seemed sometimes that she kept too much to herself. He was an open book, she knew every little detail there was to know about him (she had memorized his file back to front after all), but there was still so much he knew he didn't know about her.

John broke out of his thoughts when he heard a familiar grinding noise coming from the hallway. Leaving the kitchen he found the source of the noise, Riley was on his skateboard, his arms out against one side of the wall, pushing himself along lazily, tounge between his teeth as he concentrated intently.

"Hey! You know you're not allowed that in the house," John said, taking some of his anger out on the small boy. Riley stopped and frowned at him, before jumping off, picking up his board and heading back into his room. It only took John a second to feel bad for not handling himself better and follow after Riley to his room. The room was a mess, toys were all over the floor, his bed was upturned, sheets and pillows lying everywhere. "You're mum didn't help you make you're bed this morning?" he asked, trying to take a calmer approuch this time.

Riley, who was on his bed sulking, shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, but I messed it up again," he played with the bottom of his pants as he admitted what he'd done.

Making his way carefully across the room so that he didn't step on any of the toys, John sat next to his son on the bed. "How's your finger?" he asked, holding out his hand.

Riley put his own tiny hand in Johns' to show him."It's okay," he said, still talking to his feet.

John didn't want to jump straight into the question he was dying to ask Riley, but he seemed to be quiet and in a good mood, so now was as good a time as any. "What happened to ya buddy?" Riley didn't look up at John, instead he continued to pick at the bottom of his pants as he shrugged his shoulders again and bit his bottom lip.

"I dunno," John looked at his son sadly, he had no idea what he was supposed to do. "It made it better."

"Made what better?" John asked, glad to be getting somewhere.

"I dunno," Riley said again. Trying his best not to get frustrated, John tired to come up with a way to rephrase the question.

"Is there something wrong? Were you in pain? Were you sick?" John asked the questions slowly, hoping for a reaction.

"I felt a little bit sick. But only sometimes."

"Sometimes? You mean not just this one time?"

"I dunno," Riley said once more. This time he said it a little louder as though he was getting frustrated and he closed his eyes shut tightly.

"Okay, alright," John said, ruffling up his son's hair reassuringly. "But if your ever not feeling well, you let us know okay?"

"Yup!" Riley answered as though it was just a reaction rather then a genuine acceptance of John's words, but as he jumped off the bed and started packing his school bag, John knew that he couldn't push him much further just yet. Their conversation was over, leaving John still thouroughly unsatisfied.

John drove Riley to school, the two of them sitting in the car in complete silence. It was unsettling for John, how much things seemed to have changed lately. One minute he thought he had the perfect quiet life that every man secretly dreamed of, now it seemed like he was questioning it all. His wife was keeping secrets from him, important ones, his son couldn't even talk to him and tell him what was wrong and his work just seemed to be getting boring.

Riley was late by the time they arrived at the school, so John walked him to his class, explaining to his teacher that he hadn't been feeling well lately. He watched his son drag his back pack to his seat at the back of the room and slump into his chair miserably. Waving a goodbye and sadly watching as his son slightly returned the gesture, John got back in his car and made his way to work, rubbing at his eyes tiredly.

He was disappointed to hear that there would be no gate-travel that day at work, he had needed something to help distract him. One thing he really missed, was being able to explore a new planet nearly every day. It was exciting going off through the StarGate, never knowing where you would end up. All gate travel, nowadays, was simply revisiting planets that had already been explored before, trying to tighten or reform alliences.

By lunch time, John had had enough of paper work and decided to procastinate by walking the SGC corridors, at least that way he might run into someone who needed help with something more exciting then writing reports and mission debriefings.

"Sheppard, there you are." John spun around to see Rodney charging towards him. "I've looked everywhere, figures you wouldn't be in your office doing paper work like you're supposed to," he said frustrated.

"What do you want McKay?" John said, surprised at how harsh his words sounded.

"I-I just came to see if you wanted to get some lunch." Rodney looked at him, confused, as though not sure why John sounded so angry.

John studdied him for a moment before saying exactally what was on his mind, he was getting sick of beating around the bush lately, it was much simpler to just say what he meant. "Why didn't you tell me you and Elizabeth were trying to get the Atlantis expedition up and running again?"

Rodney's face fell slightly as he diverted his eyes, like he always did when he had been caught out. "Oh ... that."

"Yes ... _that_!"

"Huh, yes well, Elizabeth didn't want to tell you untill -"

"Yeah yeah, untill she knew for sure, I've heard this already," John interupted, getting frustrated. Why had the two people he trusted most kept this sort of thing from him?

Rodney was silent for a moment as though thinking of what to say. He raised one finger as he always did when he was about to say what he was thinking, when his phone started ringing. He looked very pleased, as though glad to have an excuse to stop talking to John, even for a minute.

"Hello?" he said, taking a few steps off down the hall. For some reason, the expression on Rodneys' face when he had answered his phone made John intrigued enough to follow closely behind to hear what he was saying.

"What? You're kidding me?" Rodney had stopped now and John was leaning in closer, trying to hear what the person on the other end was saying, but failing miserably. "When?"

Rodney had stopped talking and was now listening intently, nodding and muttering "uh-huh" every now and then, just to show he was listening. He seemed to be hanging off every word the person on the other end was telling him.

John continued to lean in closer, itching to know what the conversation was about, when suddenly Rodney turned to look at him. "John? Yeah, he's right here now ... Uh-huh ... okay ... WHAT?" John jumped as Rodney's voice now escalated into disbelief at the callers words.

"I-I understand ... did you explain ... uh-huh ... right ... okay, talk to you then." And with those final words, Rodney hung up the phone. He paused for a moment, just staring at his phone as though trying to take it all in. John watched him for a second, waiting as patiently as he could.

"Well?" John asked, tapping Rodney on the arm, just so he wouldn't forget he was there. "Who was it?"

"Uh ..." Rodney said, as though suddenly just realising John was there. "Elizabeth."

"She called you?" John said in disbelief. He had been the one worrying about her going to work, shouldn't she have called him first, if she was out of the interview, to let him know how she was. "What did she say?"

Rodney finally made full eye contact with John again, his mouth hanging open as though he still couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"We're going back to Atlantis!" he said with a slight, disbelieving laugh. All John could do was stare as he tried to take in what Rodney had just told him.

** end**

**AN: **Short and sweet, now wait about a week for the next one, he he. Hopefully sooner, depending on how I go. With any luck life will be good to me and I'll actually get one day to sleep in so I can stay up super dooper late and finnish chapter 4. I promise the next one will be a little more interesting, stay with me everyone. Also, any character anyones dying for me to include, please let me know and I will see what I can do.


	4. Chapter 4: The Way We Weren't

**Note:** Aaaaaaaaaaaaand, I'm back, a lot sooner than I though. I've been awake for like 18 hours, and still going just so I could finish this chapter for you. Yes it's short again, my appologies but next one I'll make it up to you. Thanks again for all the reviews, they keep me going through long, long, LONG week. LOL! Hope you like this chapter, had to get it out of the way, this is prob the last boring chapter, now can get into the good stuff, all talking is over, for now, LOL. Grab a cup of coffee, and enjoy :)

**fyd818: ** You're gonna stick with me hey? Oh, so much preasure. I appreciate that, but now I have to make sure I keep you interested, LOL! I want to hug him too, he's like the little miserable kid with no one. You'll wanna hug him more later, trust me, he he. And Lourne, he will be there for sure, don't worry. I just haven't decided whether I want him to have a family or not, I'll sleep on that one. Thanks for reviews, they are much appreciated and well received. Thanks again xxoo hope you like this one.

**miss Kittyplank**: LOL! I was wonderin how long it would be till someone reviewed and reminded me about Elizabeth Weir's Diary, happens all the time. LOL, makes me happy though. I haven't forgotten about it. I am now taking small break from this fic and working on the other. So you're the first to know that it will prob be about 5 days away, so keep a look out. And thanks for taking the time in between to read this fic, hope you enjoy.

Sorry for cliff hanger guys, sort of another one here, but at least you know where this one is going, lol. Thanks for the reviews all, xxoo. 

**Pairings:** Sam/Jack, Rodney/OC, Teyla/Ronan, Sheppard/Weir. Yayness!!!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own StarGate Atlantis or its character, nor do I own StarGate Sg-1 and it's characters. This is merely fan fiction, written for my own amusement.

**Hearts in Atlantis.**

**Chapter Four: The Way We Weren't.**

John stared at Rodney for a moment before the realisation of what he just said hit him. "What do you mean _we're_ going back to Atlantis?"

Staring at his phone again in disbelief Rodney seemed to be so deep into his own thoughts that he didn't hear a word of Johns' question.

"Rodney!" he said, hitting him in the arm to get his attention.

"Wh-what? Huh?" Rodney said, hastily putting his phone away and looking at John rather confused. He screwed up his face and rubbed his arm on the spot John had struck him.

"What did you mean by _we're_ going back to Atlantis?" John asked again, losing what little patience he had left.

"Elizabeth did it!" Rodney said simply, with a smile, once again deep within his own thoughts. John waited for him to remember that he was still waiting to hear what was going on. "She obviously managed to talk the president into allowing the Atlantis expedition to continue. This is great, this is fantastic ... I - I can't believe it ..."

John didn't need to hear that from Rodney, he had already figured that much out on his own. Elizabeth could talk anyone into anything if she set her mind to it and he knew from the moment she told him about the interview that she would get her way. But that wasn't the question he had asked.

"Stay with me here Rodney," John said as Rodney started muttering to himself and counting things off on his fingers. "How do _we _come into all of this?"

"What?" Rodney spun around to look at John, he looked very put-out that his thoughts were still being interrupted. "Elizabeth knew from the start that if the expidition was to go ahead, the government didn't want to have to waste the time training anyone else for the job, especially when all the members of the old expedition team are still in perfect working condition," he stood up straighter and had a smug smile on his face. "That was one of the reasons Elizabeth was holding it off for so long, she wanted to check with everyone first to make sure they were happy with going back."

"She never checked with me!" John felt his frustration rising, he didn't like being kept out of the loop and he certainly wasn't very fond of these sort of suprises.

"Guess Elizabeth just assumed that where she went you'd follow," Rodney said, with a sly smile at John. John thought it best just to let that comment role off his shoulders for now. "You seriously don't want to go back?" he asked, suddenly very serious.

"I never said that. It's just, things have changed now Rodney, we have families, what about Katie and Mikala?"

"Do you really think Elizabeth would have been so happy about this if we weren't allowed to bring our whole family?" John hated it when Rodney answered his question with a question of his own.

"How was I supposed to know that she sounded happy McKay, she called you, not me!" John's level of frustration was rising by the minute. There was so much he wanted to know, so much he needed to know.

"Ha ... so she did," Rodney said sounding very pleased with himself, one thing he loved to do was tease John, and John hated that, in this case, he had the upper hand. "Well, I'm affraid your going to have to discuss this with her, I have a lot of loose ends to tie up."

John watched in disbelief as Rodney walked off without so much as another word on the topic. There was no way he was going to wait until he got home that night to find out all the details. Running back into his office, he quickly located his mobile under a pile of paper work and hastily picked it up. As he pushed a button and the screen came to life he looked guiltily at the '4 missed calls' message that occupied it. The calls were all from Elizabeth. He had been so preoccupied with feeling angry at the fact she had called Rodney to tell him how the interview had gone and not her actual husband who worried about her, that he didn't even think about that his phone wasn't even on him and that she might be trying to call.

He dialed her number and couldn't help but pace back and forth whilst it rang. If what Rodney said was true and they were allowed to go back to Atlantis, _with _their families, what did this mean for their children? They would be exposing them to everything that John had promised himself he never wanted his kids to see; death, distruction, panic, madness, everything that had haunted his dreams for many, many years. But then again, if they stayed, then their children would never know the wonders of Atlantis, never understand the importance of peace, the value of friendship and most importantly, the value of life. What was more important to him? Sheltering his son from all the bad in life for as long as he could? or, showing him the experience of a life time?

"Darn it, Elizabeth," John said as the phone went straight through to Elizabeth's voice mail.

He tried to get through to her all day, but she had most likely switched her phone off as there was still no answer. Having no other choice but to wait, the working day was probably the slowest John had ever experienced. He spent most of it staring at his paper work deep in thought, or pacing around his office wishing time would go faster.

The second it was time for John to leave, he was out of there as quickly as he possibly could. Naturally, he was stuck in traffic, so it took him another painful fifteen minutes before he actually pulled up in his drive way. The house seemed unusually quiet. Usually it was full of the sounds of Riley screaming happily at being finnished from school and the cries from Elizabeth trying to get him to settle down long enough to bath him, feed him and get him into bed. But today there was none of those noises, the house seemed dark and if John hadn't already seen Elizabeths' flash sports car parked just in front of his, he would have thought noone was home.

"Hey, I'm home," he said as he walked in the door. The first place he looked was the kitchen, Elizabeth was usually trying to make dinner when he got home, but today it was empty.

"John." He spun around to see Elizabeth standing in the door way. She was still in her work clothes but looked as though she was about ready for bed, her eyes were slightly blood shot and she didn't seem to be standing as straight as she usually did. At first he wondered why she hadn't greeted him with a hug and kiss like she usually did when he was home, then he remembered their little fight that morning.

He felt like a moron, just standing there, staring at her, not quiet knowing what to say to her first. It was funny how moments ago he couldn't wait to get home to ask her all about the interview, but now that he was home, he didn't quite know where to start.

"Riley's teacher called me today," Elizabeth said, breaking the ice first.

"What about?" John asked, suddenly his full attention on her. He hoped it was nothing serious, the house was quiet, Riley hadn't raced to the door to greet him.

"He got into a fight today at school," she informed him, rubbing at her eyes tiredly. "His teacher said that another boy in his class had picked on him earlier in the day when he wasn't paying attention and couldn't answer her question. Then apparently, some time during lunch, the two got into a fight ... and Riley punched him."

"Punched him?" John said in disbelief. Riley had been in trouble at school before, sometimes for pushing other kids or refusing to join in team games, but he had never punched anyone before.

"Apparently the other boy was a bit of a bully so they're not taking any serious action, but she did say something else," Elizabeth continued, barely able to make eye contact with John. He knew her well enough to know that what she was about to say would be bad, but lately, he was preety much expecting it ... it hadn't been a good week.

"What did they say?" he urged her on, even though he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"They recommended that Riley see a psychiatrist." She shuffled uncomfortable in the doorway for a bit before hanging her head in defeat. John didn't really know what else to do but stare. The truth was, he had been thinking about it himself all afternoon. The talk he had had with his son that morning had proved that he was keeping something bottled up. It had to be hard for a five year old to try and understand exactally what was going on in their head sometimes, especially when they had to put it into words. John was just worried that they had done something wrong. Had they been bad parents? Had they raised him wrong?

Not knowing what to say to his wife and still not having the heart to tell her how Riley had behaved at Teyla and Ronan's, John did the only thing that felt right at that moment. He walked up to Elizabeth, his sudden movement making her finally look up at him, and he pulled her into a hug. He felt her arms wrap around him weekly as she sighed into his chest. "What are we going to do?" she asked as they held on a little longer.

"I have no idea," he said honestly. This wasn't the conversation he had wanted to have with her, he had wanted things to start off differently, but at least he could safely say they had made-up now. He broke the hug, reluctantly pulling away from her.

"So ..." she said, looking up at him and forcing a smile. "How was your day?" He was glad she had changed the subject. They both knew that the topic of Riley was not over, but for now they could let it go.

"Forget my day," he quickly replied. "I want to hear about Atlantis!"

Elizabeth looked at him a little stunned, but she smiled at him again, this time it was genuine. Then as though suddenly realising something her smile fadded and she looked up at him appologetically. "I-I tried to call you, but when I couldn't get you I _had _to call Rodney, I'd promised him and -"

Knowing where she was going with this he raised his hand to stop her. "Liz, it's okay. I left my phone in my office. Rodney relayed _most _of the message, but he seemed more satisfied with himself when he left out all the important bits." John scowled at the thought of Rodney sitting smugly in his office, knowing everything that was going on, whilst John had paced a hole in his floor, waiting to get home and find out.

Elizabeth grabbed his hand and led him down the hall and into their room. He sat on the bed and watched as she looked back down the hall before closing the door as though afraid they might be over-heard. "Just so Riley doesn't hear us," she said, looking very excited and joining him on the bed.

"Where is he?" John asked, realising he hadn't even asked her yet and feeling guilty.

"Sleeping again. As soon as I bought him home he said he wasn't hungry and stormed off to his room." Realising they had once again fallen onto the topic of their troublesome son, John tried to bring her mind back around to Atlantis without being too blunt.

"Rodney said something about us being the only one's that the president wants back on Atlantis," John said, remembering what McKay had said to him.

"That's right. They didn't want to spend all the time training up any new people, especially when we're all fit and healthy enough to do it ourselves. I mean, more than half of the old team have been given the ancient gene and most of them already know how to use some ancient technology, like the jumpers. It was too time consuming and far too costly to start training anyone new."

"Makes sense," John said, nodding his head. Due to the fact the Dedalus had been making regular rounds back and fourth between Atlantis and Earth, they had received quite a number of new military staff as it were. Those men and women were only there for a few months before the expedition was terminated, yet they still learnt an exceptional amount about the city and the ancient technology. Truth was, if they could get everyone to go back again, they certainly wouldn't need any more staff.

"When I first spoke to the president about starting the expedition again he told me he would concider it, but he refused to recruit new people to the cause. So, that was when Rodney and I went around to as many of the ex-expedition team as we could find and asked them how they would feel about going back," she continued, bringing Rodney into her story carefully, as he had been a sore spot earlier that day. "I don't think there was one person that said they didn't want to return, guess everyone just missed it too much. So, once I had the list of names and a strong case for going back I arranged todays meeting. The president congratuated me on my presentation saying that it was very hard to refuse and that was when he shook my hand and said I had proved my point and that we could return to Atlantis and continue the work that we started."

John smiled at her proudly. It was no shock to him that she had single handedly turned the president around to her way of thinking, she could be very persuasive when she wanted to be.

"However, there were obviously a few conditions on both sides." Elizabeths face dropped slightly, up untill now she had been smiling whilst she discussed their return, but now, when they reached the conditions, things were different.

"What sort of conditions?" he asked, keen to know what lay ahead.

"Well, naturally, after six years, some of the expedition team have families. Not as many as I thought, but still at least thirty five percent. I never thought the president would agree to letting people have their families on Atlantis with them as well, the thought of children living in the city ... I mean, could you imagine it?" John had to imagine that it would be an interesting site. They had the athosian children living with them for a while, but that didn't last long, it had been ages since they had any children in Atlantis.

"In the end, I put forward the best case I could, and whilst the president was a little undecided on the matter, he excepted ... so long as we excepted the new positions," she continued in a flat tone. She seemed to be watching him closely, watching for his reaction.

"What sort of new positions?" he asked, suddenly not liking the sound of this at all.

"The good news, Rodney will be head of the science team, Zelenka will be the second if anything should happen to him," she answered. John had to admit, Rodney was the best choice for the science team, whilst stubborn and sometimes stupidly making quick decissions, Zelenka more than made up for his mistakes.

"And what's the bad news?"

She hesitated a moment before answering. "You and I ... it wont work, not us, together like this, working in our old positions."

"Well I disagree -" John started to say, but Elizabeth interrupted.

"But you're not in charge ... and neither am I," she said bluntly.

"What do you mean you're not in charge?"

"If we're going to have people who are non-military, and people under the age of twenty one, running around Atlantis, than the president wants military control over the city. To my suprise, he had already contacted General Samantha Carter to lead the city. Which meant he had obviously been considering the move before I even had my interview." Elizabeth watched as John scowled at her.

"I knew this would happen. If the military take control, than the Atlantis we know will never be back, they'll change everything." John was frustrated at how they always had to change Atlantis, they were the originals, why couldn't they have just let them be the way they wanted it.

"There's more," she said, bitting her lip slightly.

"Great," he added sarcastically.

"Samantha Carter will obviously be leader of the city, and her military commander won't be you," she said it as gently as she could, but it hit John hard. "Colonel Caldwell, has been given Military Command ... you are second in command."

John felt his temper rising. So Caldwell finally got the position he'd always wanted. It was typical, John had worked hard to try and do the right thing and earn the respect of everyone he worked with, now, none of that even mattered. It was the presidents say over anyone elses. "He's doing this to punish us you know," he voiced biterly. He still thought they hated him and Elizabeth for getting married, but he was probably just him being paranoid.

"Don't be silly John, he's doing it to make a point. Personally, if it lets us take Riley with us, then I don't mind the change. It will take a bit of getting used to, but who knows." She looked at him expectantly, waiting for some kind of response from him.

John watched her, ready for more arguing, more complaining. He didn't like how this was going down, he didn't like change, he wanted everything back to the way it was before, when he was happy on Atlantis, not stressed about ordinary life. John had never seen himself as a man that would do the grocery shopping, take his kids to school, be a soccor coach or cook dinner for his family. It was always the military. Before Atlantis, John didn't think he would ever want to settle down.

The more John thought about it, the more he missed it. But they had Riley now, and the way Elizabeth was talking it was as though she had already made up their mind and they were going. But, why not? It was what he had wanted so badly, after all, for all of these years. It was home, his home, and it always would be. "So we're seriously concidering this?" he asked cautiously.

"Why not?" she said, raising an eyebrow. "I know we've got Riley and I know things wont be as good there as they used to, but it feels so right John. I just wanna get away from all this, go back there and finish what we started." She had a smile on her face, she was happy, just at the thought of Atlantis, and he could tell. "I wanna go back John ... but, do you?'

He studied her for a second, licking his lips as he gave it serious thought. It would be a big change for their son ... but he was young ... he was having trouble at school ... he wasn't happy either. Maybe this was their answer, the one they'd been looking for. It seemed Rodney had already made up his mind, he was going. Teyla and Ronan, they'd been wanting to go back to the galaxy that they called home since the day they left. Without them, John would have noone. He didn't like work ... he missed Atlantis. It would be different ... but maybe he would get lucky again ... so long as he still had his team ... and his home back.

Realising Elizabeth was waiting for him to answer, he gave her one long side glance before making up his mind. Slowly, he smiled and nodded his head, hardly believing what he was doing. "Let's do this!"

** end**

**AN: **Another short one, I know, next one will be longer. And by the end of it, they will be settled into Atlantis, and happy ... well maybe, LOL! You shall all just have to wait and read and see, he he he. Hopefully, next chapter up middle of next week, I have to work on my other stories for now, so slight break. But not too long, fingers crossed ey. I've got all these evil thoughts going round in my head, muhahahaha!


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